


Susceptible at Sunrise

by Virgilius



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Good Friend, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, POV Third Person Omniscient, Post-Episode: Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux | Sanders Sides, Virgil is sleep deprived, and all the shit within the two weeks before it ofc, but i focus more on one character ata time, justa couple of sad bitches you know how it be, other sides mentioned, poor bby, relationship is open to interpretation i tried to make it vague, so am I, talking about the dark sides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25026619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virgilius/pseuds/Virgilius
Summary: While scrolling through social media when he should be asleep, Virgil notes on the morning routines of the others, one of the few normalcies in his life. When Roman's routine is put at a pause, he can't help the feeling that something is wrong and decides to check it out. Neither of the two had planned to start the morning being vulnerable with one another.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Comments: 7
Kudos: 90





	Susceptible at Sunrise

Virgil sighed, laying in bed as his room slowly brightened minute by minute as the sun rose. It was nearly 5:30 in the morning, and he had still not slept. He would pull the curtains shut, but that meant getting up, and as of now he felt like if he even dared to sit up his body would reject him and throw him back down into the familiar warmth of his blankets.

A door opened and he didn’t have to think to know it was Roman. The prince would wake up early, go on a morning jog through the imagination, come back, shower, and then make some big breakfast for the other’s that’d be his first creative endeavor of the day.

Virgil continued scrolling through his Tumblr and ignoring the burning sensation in his eyes, reblogging memes that were most definitely a cry for help from the original poster where all he could do was agree. Maybe if he got bored he would watch one of those oddly specific video essays he had saved in his watch later playlist on youtube.

He got bored.

Normally, he’d hear Roman leave the mind palace by now. It was almost 6 am.

He didn’t want to check on him. No, he did not want to check on Roman. They had another dumb argument last night, and while they were less frequent than they once were, Virgil never learned how to deal with it afterward. He didn’t know how to tell people he was sorry for the stupid shit he did or got himself into. Then again, he couldn’t stop himself from worrying. The routine was messed up, and he had to fix it.

So he pulled himself out of bed, stretching and cringing at the sound of cracks and pops from not having moved in the past 5 hours. Somewhat stumbling to the door and praying to god he wouldn’t be heard.

He snuck down the stairs, only halfway so he could peek out from behind the wall. Roman was starfished on the couch, one leg thrown up onto the back and the other hanging off the side. A golden apple Thomas had won from the community theatre held out in his hand. An unreadable expression in his face.

Virgil froze when Roman glanced up at him.

He was sure he had never seen Roman looking so off. Roman was supposed to be excited, lovestruck, cocky, anything other than the apathetic person he was staring at.

“Hello to you too, dark and stormy.”

Virgil let the greeting go, forcing himself to walk the rest of the way down the steps. Pausing in his normal spot till Roman shrugged. If anything, he wanted to be as close to someone as possible.

Virgil, still hesitant as ever, sat on top of the other end of the couch while still trying to remain close to the mess of a man he never thought he’d care this much about.

“Hey there, Princey,” he said, “are you like… good?”

Roman smiled, gently. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Hey, c’mon, this ain’t about me.”

Roman rolled his eyes, a fonder look on his face than before. Virgil could feel himself relax, if only a little bit, from that alone. He was more than content to sit here with Roman while he thought over what to say. Thinking over everything that had happened in the past two weeks since March 31st. Thinking about how Virgil looked exhausted yet wide awake, thinking about how he too had dealt with some complete nonsense these past few weeks.

“I guess I’m just stressed? I don’t know how you live like this all the time.”

“Yeah me neither. But really though, Ro, If you wanna talk about it, you know I’ll get it. The others are, well… I know neither of us exactly get along with them.”

Roman nodded, silently, and it stayed that way for a while. Virgil watched as Roman stared up at the ceiling, biting on his lower lip and thinking about god knows what as his hands seemed to clench the golden apple a little tighter than before.

And Roman watched too when Virgil suddenly yet slowly lowered himself down next to him, reaching over and unwrapping one of his hands from the award and taking it into his own. His brows furrowed and eyes seeming to ask _“Is this okay?”_ to which he nodded in return. Eventually, Roman turned onto his side, still holding the other’s hand as if it was the one thing keeping him afloat. Who knows, maybe it was. All that mattered was the here and now.

“Virgil… Do you think I’m like my brother?”

His voice was suddenly rawer this time, and Virgil nearly wished he wasn’t here. Patton was supposed to be the comforting one of the group. Virgil bought into and fed fears, not get rid of them.

“I think you have similarities, but I think all twins do- at least from the ones Thomas has met. I don’t- I don’t think you’re like him, though. Like Remus loves those horror movies that were always too much for me to handle even though I knew they weren’t real, and you- you’re all about musicals, Disney movies, and those shitty hallmark movies with those royal plots.”

“They are _not_ shitty, they have wonderful cinematography. You just obsess over stop-motion emo kid stuff all the time too much to appreciate it.”

Virgil snickered, and he was sure that even if he had been blindfolded he would be able to hear the grin in Roman’s tone.

Virgil paused, brushing his thumb on the back of Roman’s hand. Taking in the bit of confusion and sadness hidden in his eyes.

“You are going to be okay though, right?”

Roman sighed, pulling himself up into a curled up sitting position.

“It’s just all the stuff with _them_ y’know? First Janus shows up and tricks me into doing what he wants, and then I still don’t learn from it and fall for his flattery again even though you tried to warn us he couldn’t be trusted and I made Thomas miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime, then Remus showed up just to knock me out like a fool, and then you had to tell Thomas about your past, and-” he stopped to breathe seeing as Virgil tried to motion for him to slow down. “And then Patton and I had this weird complex conversation with Thomas about rights and wrongs and Severus Snake showed up and Patton was taking his side? And he revealed his name and I kinda made fun of him for it and he said that if I had a mustache he wouldn’t be able to tell who the evil twin was. And I don’t know what I’m supposed to _say_ or _do_ or _think_ because he had to come and mess it all up. Everything was fine before they started showing up. You were a part of the group, and Patton was getting better about opening up, and they ruined it, Virge.”

He didn’t even notice when his hands began to shake and the threat of tears stung his eyes. God, he felt like a dumbass, and not even a lovable one at that. At some point, Virgil had wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into a protective hold. Roman sighed into his shoulder, Virgil’s hugs were always so much different than Patton's, but at this moment he couldn’t be more grateful for it. Virgil was more tense- unprepared for surprise contact, but he eased into it the longer it went on. Like slowly getting into a pool, it was cold discomfort at first, but eventually, it was fine and you didn’t want to get out into the unfamiliar air until you had to.

And Virgil held him, thinking about every word he could possibly say. He wasn’t an optimist. This wasn’t really his role among the sides, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying for Roman.

“Breathe, Princey. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight, remember?” He instructed, pressing the other's hand to his chest so he could follow along. Letting the pattern go on as many times as needed and smiling softly when Roman’s breathing started to even out. “See? You got it. You’re okay.”

Roman let his hand fall from Virgil’s chest, slightly pulling away but too scared that if he moved away entirely he would leave.

“How are you managing with all of this?”

“Like with helping you or with the others?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh, I mean, I’m surviving. Still here with you guys.”

“Do you think you would’ve ducked out after you told him? Like if you didn’t know the consequences?”

Virgil didn’t respond, not for some time anyway. It’d be a lie to say the thought hadn’t tempted him, but he couldn’t just leave Thomas behind after the others showed up. When he ducked out before, it was to protect his manifestor from himself. The least he could do now was try to protect him from what he once was.

“Did you think about it?”

Roman shrugged. “I couldn’t leave Thomas with Remus as his only source for creativity in good conscience.” He laughed bitterly. “It’s kinda sad, isn’t it? I said I was on a solo quest to save myself years ago, but I can’t even do that.”

“You can’t do it all on your own though, that’s the problem,” Virgil said. Roman rose a brow at him, and Virgil continued. “You don’t ask for help, and I can’t blame you for not trying because it’s hard and if you haven’t noticed every frickin’ one of us is bad at it. But when I ducked out, you guys came to stop me, when Patton was so stuck on the past we tried to help him, Logan- I don’t know- he’s stubborn, and we try to save Thomas from random shit all the time. It’s like a team effort, y’know?”

“I… I guess, yeah.”

“So why are you the exception?”

Roman tried to respond, but what was there to say? He was _Prince Roman_ , but he knew Virgil wasn’t going to accept that as an answer. Maybe it was the selflessness and need to not feel like a burden to others. Maybe it was the feeling that none of the other sides could understand how he felt, no matter how many times he was proven wrong. Maybe he just wasn’t good enough at being a hero.

“I don’t know, Virge.”

Virgil nodded in understanding, and Roman let himself lean into the other again. Odd to think that the one who he wrongly accused of being nothing but another villain was now the one he sat against in the silence of their living room. He could hear the sound of an air conditioner humming, of the birds singing outside. He wondered how long it would be until Logan and Patton came downstairs. Maybe they had already woken up, listening in on their conversation and deciding it was best to leave them alone. It didn’t matter, not really. The conversation going on now was what mattered.

“I can’t believe he told you guys his name,” Virgil mumbled, Roman nearly missing what he had said. He nodded against Virgil’s shoulder.

“Do you think he’s gonna change like you did?”

“I dunno. He’s never really given the clearest signals.” Virgil bit at the inside of his mouth. The room felt too quiet. “I just hope he doesn’t give you any more trouble.”

“Same to you.”

Virgil rested his head against the other. Intimacy was never something he sought out, rather letting it come to him first and freaking out whenever it did. But he was tired, emotionally, and physically, and at this point, he didn’t really care.

“I think we’ll be okay, Ro.” He said. “I think it’ll even out, it always does. We’re meant to work together even if we don’t always get along.”

Roman hummed in response. “Okay,” he shifted looking up at the exhausted emo beside him. “But first you gotta sleep. You look dead.”

“Fits my aesthetic.”

Roman rolled his eyes, readjusting himself and pulling the resident insomniac’s head onto his lap.

“Just go to sleep. You can’t work your best when the only thing you’re running on is adrenaline and caffeine.” He paused, brushing Virgil’s bangs out of his eyes. His lips quirking up seeing the other already being dragged into unconsciousness. He was like a cat that’d fall asleep the moment it got comfortable. “We can talk about it more later if you want, but like you said- team efforts here. If the nerds ask, I’ll tell them we watched a movie or something.”

Virgil would comment on his disapproval for lying, but he decided he’d take it over telling the parent friends of the group that they were busy being vulnerable and talking about emotions like Patton kept trying to get them to do.

“Alright, fine, whatever, but only cause you got pillows for thighs.”

Roman silenced any thoughts of insecurity, deciding it was better to accept the compliment as it was. Leaning back into the couch and messing with Virgil’s hair. He probably wouldn’t be awake for long like this, but that was okay. He felt better than he did before, and maybe he’d make some grand dinner to make up for his being willingly trapped beneath the dark distresser.

It would be okay, he reminded himself. They would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to post something for MONTHS because I've been working on the same wip since mid-February (n yes I am actually writing I'm just scared If I post it I'll be too scared to continue-) and the Need to write literally anything with sweet prinxiety bonding was eating my soul. I hope you liked it though! n don't feel scared to comment I'm always desperate for validation n will not bite jdhgcv let me know if anything needs to be added to the tags or something for a warning!


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